Thapphireth!
Well, eleven days later, I guess I have a free moment to fucking breathe, let alone update.
This week has been insane. As I mentioned before, my band is performing two numbers in a really cool dance show in San Luis Obispo called Sapphire Moon: Eclipsed. I went up to SLO on Monday night last week in prep for opening, which was last Thursday. I had to be up there early for Tech rehearsal on Tuesday, where things like lighting, blocking, sound check, first live rehearsal with band + dancers, etc happen.
I spent tuesday through saturday at the wonderfully hospitable abode of blackmoondog and smittyhalibut. My bandmates Redblaze and Schtoofa arrived while we were helping sort out chaos at the theatre, and we had a joyous reunion. With the band all there, we set our gear on stage and did some sound-checking / rocking out.
It was really cool to do that first run-through with the dancers, because we've been practicing the track for months, but they've also been rehearsing to early recordings, so they know it as well as we do. The first performance was this instant synergy - they started feeding off of us, which fed our energy - and we knew it was going to rock. We left to get dinner and then arrived back to hang out and watch in prep for our first lighted run-through of our piece. In the meantime, we watched them run through the second act, and I started getting really excited about the show. The dancers and choreographers have worked really hard, and it showed even at 11 PM when people were totally exhausted and crazy.
We went to bed at 2 AM feeling tired but pumped.
Wednesday was another day of working remotely and show prep. There is limited storage space backstage, so the decision was made to hide it in plain sight and wedge it into the space at the back of the platform where we play (and dancers also dance). The space where my drum kit sits on stage is an obtuse triangle with an eight-foot hypotenuse, and we had to make it easy to quickly set up and strike. The solution: affix as many parts of the kit as possible to a batwing of plywood.
smittyhalibut and I spent awhile on Wednesday figuring out how to do this, and came up with satisfactory solutions. We used rubber feet to ensure that the batwing wouldn't slide, and then drilled holes in the plywood and used zipties to anchor the Hi-hat, snare stand, bass drum and crash cymbal stand to the wood. We also put in three mic stands and handles for wrestling the heavy beast in and out of place.
We reassembled the kit + batwing on stage and added mic cables just to keep it fun. I get to wrestle with the kit every night, but I have help in both cases, and so far we've gotten quicker every night. I look for this weekend's sets and strikes to be smooth and quick, and the show to be super-fun each night.
That night, most of the band ended up volunteering to help dancers quick-change between numbers, because there were not enough people to help, and we have nothing to do for the entire first act. I have to do three costume changes for Jenny, and while I was bad the first night (one of her shoelaces came loose, yeek), we've been quicker and quicker each night. It feels good to help out instead of sitting around useless for an hour during the first act. It's cool to be a part of this community and feel like we're putting in a group effort.
Short version: you should really come see it this week! Tickets still available for all three nights, though Saturday the 22nd is very close to being sold out. We'd love to see you.
This week has been insane. As I mentioned before, my band is performing two numbers in a really cool dance show in San Luis Obispo called Sapphire Moon: Eclipsed. I went up to SLO on Monday night last week in prep for opening, which was last Thursday. I had to be up there early for Tech rehearsal on Tuesday, where things like lighting, blocking, sound check, first live rehearsal with band + dancers, etc happen.
I spent tuesday through saturday at the wonderfully hospitable abode of blackmoondog and smittyhalibut. My bandmates Redblaze and Schtoofa arrived while we were helping sort out chaos at the theatre, and we had a joyous reunion. With the band all there, we set our gear on stage and did some sound-checking / rocking out.
It was really cool to do that first run-through with the dancers, because we've been practicing the track for months, but they've also been rehearsing to early recordings, so they know it as well as we do. The first performance was this instant synergy - they started feeding off of us, which fed our energy - and we knew it was going to rock. We left to get dinner and then arrived back to hang out and watch in prep for our first lighted run-through of our piece. In the meantime, we watched them run through the second act, and I started getting really excited about the show. The dancers and choreographers have worked really hard, and it showed even at 11 PM when people were totally exhausted and crazy.
We went to bed at 2 AM feeling tired but pumped.
Wednesday was another day of working remotely and show prep. There is limited storage space backstage, so the decision was made to hide it in plain sight and wedge it into the space at the back of the platform where we play (and dancers also dance). The space where my drum kit sits on stage is an obtuse triangle with an eight-foot hypotenuse, and we had to make it easy to quickly set up and strike. The solution: affix as many parts of the kit as possible to a batwing of plywood.
smittyhalibut and I spent awhile on Wednesday figuring out how to do this, and came up with satisfactory solutions. We used rubber feet to ensure that the batwing wouldn't slide, and then drilled holes in the plywood and used zipties to anchor the Hi-hat, snare stand, bass drum and crash cymbal stand to the wood. We also put in three mic stands and handles for wrestling the heavy beast in and out of place.
We reassembled the kit + batwing on stage and added mic cables just to keep it fun. I get to wrestle with the kit every night, but I have help in both cases, and so far we've gotten quicker every night. I look for this weekend's sets and strikes to be smooth and quick, and the show to be super-fun each night.
That night, most of the band ended up volunteering to help dancers quick-change between numbers, because there were not enough people to help, and we have nothing to do for the entire first act. I have to do three costume changes for Jenny, and while I was bad the first night (one of her shoelaces came loose, yeek), we've been quicker and quicker each night. It feels good to help out instead of sitting around useless for an hour during the first act. It's cool to be a part of this community and feel like we're putting in a group effort.
Short version: you should really come see it this week! Tickets still available for all three nights, though Saturday the 22nd is very close to being sold out. We'd love to see you.